Relatives of man killed by alleged drunken driver walk boardwalk

Larry Garwood is seen in this undated family photo. His family held a walk at 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, 2015 on National Boulevard in Long Beachs in honor of Garwood and to raise awareness to the drunk driving epidemic. Photo Credit: Garwood family

Garwood, 61, and about three dozen others -- including her husband's siblings -- walked the Long Beach boardwalk to call attention to Long Island's continuing crisis: deadly alcohol-related crashes.

"We have too many fatalities," said Garwood, 61, whose T-shirt bore a picture of her husband on the front and the words "Don't Drink and Drive" on the back. "It's every week."

Larry Garwood, 59, was driving his 2012 Toyota Camry south on Route 25A in Smithtown shortly after midnight when Natalia Simons, 36, who was northbound, veered her 2013 Nissan Rogue into his lane, causing a head-on crash.

Garwood was taken to nearby St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where he was pronounced dead.

Minutes before the crash, he had left work at St. Catherine, where he was a supervisor in the radiology department. Kim Garwood woke up around 3 a.m., noticed that her husband wasn't there, and called the hospital.

A doctor told Garwood the news. Stunned, she called her daughter, Nicole Eye.

"That was the most horrible night of my life, and my mother's," said Eye, 30, of Long Beach, who joined the walk.

Authorities said Simons of Kings Park had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit. She remains free on $50,000 bail on aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges.

Garwood said the walk and the barbecue that followed were meant to memorialize her husband -- an easygoing man with a taste for classic rock, Broadway plays and ice cream. She said she wants people to "know the sorrow" felt by families who've lost loved ones in drunken driving crashes.

Garwood's brother, Craig, 51, of Baldwin can't escape it.

His voice cracking, he said, "I miss being able to visit him and talk with him."